Joan Mir scores eighth Moto3 victory of the year

The brilliant Joan Mir (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) scored his eighth Moto3 victory of the year in nerve-jangling style in the first race of the day, pouncing on the final lap to beat Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW) by 0.043 seconds, with Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) a further 0.008 seconds behind. Thus the 11th all-Honda podium of the year was covered by just 0.51 seconds.

‘Miracle Mir’, as he is known by his team, Di Giannantonio and Bastianini were closely followed over the line by Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Racing Moto3 Honda NSF250RW), Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) and John McPhee (British Talent Team Honda NSF250RW), who finished half a second behind the winner and made it an all-Honda top six. And the top 13 were separated by less than two seconds.

The first race of the day was shortened from 20 laps to 13 laps, due to a late start caused by fog which delayed warm-up for all three classes.

As always Mir judged his attack to perfection, running with the lead group throughout, then fighting through to the front at the very end. Today’s win extends his championship advantage to 80 points. Second overall Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda NSF250RW), who won the last race at Misano, finished tenth today, 1.2 seconds off the win.

Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse Honda NSF250RW) also played his part in the thrilling battle, taking 13th place, at the back of the lead group. Adam Norrodin (SIC Racing Team Honda NSF250RW) was 15th, and Ayumu Sasaki (SIC Racing Team Honda NSF250RW) finished 16th, just one place and three hundredths of a second outside World Championship points.

The MotoGP paddock leaves Europe for several weeks, heading east for next month’s Japanese, Australian and Malaysian GPs, before returning to Spain for November’s season finale at Valencia.

Joan Mir

It was another amazing race! The race was short but intense ... shameless, because my tire was at the limit. I really did not expect a win here: I felt the affection of the fans who came here for me and thank everyone. I tried to handle it in the last lap, but I had to be careful to not push too much. The braking was the most important, not just for this race, but throughout the season. In Japan there will be the first match-point, but I do not want to make the calculations for the title, I will continue in this way even in the last races. To be honest, I'm quieter now: this was a key battle! I would have liked to be champion in Spain, but now I want it to come before Valencia!

Fabio Di Giannantonio

I had a great race. I started from 14th position and I was able to make up so many places in so little time. I wanted the win and I did what I had to do: I was second at the last turn to try and win on the last straight: I think Mir did a bit of a dangerous move, because it takes nothing to get hurt at 250km/h. In any case it’s a great second place, it’s my second podium in a row and it’ll be important to keep the momentum going in the flyaway races.

Enea Bastianini

It was a nice race, right from the start, as we were fighting practically since the first lap with a very strong group. It was very important to stay in the top positions to avoid risks. On the last lap I started off third and our goal was to fight for the win, but I didn't expect a finale to the race like we had today.